THE MARKETS OF
HERE from morning till night they are selling and buying,
And from morning till night their market wares crying:
All around you will find there is food of each kind;
There are flesh, fowl, and fish here for every dish.
The fish-market you see on the opposite page:
On this stall that is nearest, the shell-fish appear;
But were I to begin, it would take me an age
To tell you the names of the fish you find here.
See! there's puss looking out for what she can get,
And that little boy who is laughing is Paul,—
The girl with the lobster is sister Lisette,
And he's watching to see if it nips her at all.
Madame Blaise, there, tells Nellie her mussels are good,
But Nellie smiles sweetly and goes on her way,
And I venture to doubt if she quite understood
All the funny French things Madame Blaise had to say.
Other parts of the market contain butchers meat,
And poultry, and fruit, and salads, and greens,
And here, if you want them, quite young, fresh and sweet,
Air the haricóts verts which we know as "French beans."
For, from morning till night here they're selling and buying,
And from morning till night their market wares crying.
